Saturday, January 17, 2009

Over and Over

We all know that children learn best through repetition. It is boring, however, to just sing the same song over and over. A lot of the ideas out there for review games are often for multiple songs, like when you're reviewing for your SMP. It is just as important to have fun review games when you are learning a new song. Using the same poster or visuals week after week in the same month can become tedious, so I'm always looking for new ideas to mix it up.

One of my favorite ways to do this (which takes no preparation, only some creativity) is also one of my kids' favorites. When we are repeating a song, I'll shout out impromptu instructions for who/how to sing. Here are some examples, off the top of my head:

Sing if you:
  • are a boy
  • are a girl
  • are a teacher
  • have blonde hair
  • are wearing red
  • have lost a tooth recently or have a loose tooth (they love this one, for some reason)
  • have shoes that tie
  • have shoes that buckle
  • have shoes that slip on
  • have a summer birthday
  • have brown eyes
  • have curly hair
  • are wearing buttons
Sing in this way:
  • opera style (my senior boys' favorite way to sing)
  • western twang
  • eyes closed
  • standing on one foot (always a hit)
  • lights off
  • facing backwards
  • humming (this works well if you have melody corrections to make)
  • snap or clap with the beat (use more complex rhythms for senior primary)
  • stand up/sit down on key words

Usually I just shout out the instructions before we sing. You could write the instructions down on cards, popsicle sticks, whatever. I'm going to be doing this activity in February, and I'm going to write the instructions on the back of construction paper hearts that I'll post around the room. That always gives the kids (especially the little ones) a fun way to be involved, when they get to go pick the next one.

Any other ideas of who/how to sing when repeating?

3 comments:

Kate said...

Maren Maren the Bee Lady! Don't even ask me how I came upon your blog because I couldn't tell you. One of those hopping from blog to blog things. But I feel guilty for using the wonderful resource of this blog without telling you THANKS!! I've been our primary chorister for about 6 months or so and I've used a couple of your ideas and selfishly basked in the glory of their success. Bless your soul. You are wonderful!

XOXO
Kate Gibbs Page
(And now I will go back into hiding because I can't actually believe I'm posting a comment.)

Anonymous said...

There is a neat "bowling" review idea on the Yahoo Group site. You ask questions that can be answered by a line from the song. The child that gets it right gets to bowl, and however many pins are left standing = how many times you sing that line of the song. I did it today, and the kids loved it. After we did all the lines of the verse, I then had them sing the verse through in its entirety.

Menner said...

I love this idea! I'm going to use it too. In fact, I just bought a cheap bowling set a few days ago. I love it when serendipity happens like that.